Changes

*''Japanese'': 御座楽 ''(uzagaku)''

*''Japanese'': 御座楽 ''(uzagaku)''

Uzagaku (lit. "seated music") was the chief form of court music in the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] used for formal court ceremonies including [[Ryukyu seasonal observances|seasonal observances]] such as celebrations of New Year's and Mid-Autumn Festival; enthronement and [[Chinese investiture envoys|investiture]] ceremonies; and the like.

Uzagaku (lit. "seated music") was the chief form of court music in the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] used for formal court ceremonies including [[Ryukyu seasonal observances|seasonal observances]] such as celebrations of New Year's and [[Mid-Autumn Festival]]; enthronement and [[Chinese investiture envoys|investiture]] ceremonies; and the like.

Like the kingdom's formal processional music tradition, known as ''[[rujigaku]]'' (lit. "street music"), ''uzagaku'' was based heavily upon [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] musical traditions. However, where ''rujigaku'' closely emulated the comparable formal, courtly, ritual processions of the Ming and Qing courts, and where Korean ''[[aak]]'', Japanese ''[[gagaku]]'', and Vietnamese ''nha nhac'' court music traditions similarly borrowed from the ancient, highly ritualized ''[[yayue|yǎyuè]]'' music of [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] and [[Song dynasty]] court ceremonies (based in turn on traditions said to stretch back to the [[Zhou dynasty]]), ''uzagaku'' instead took Ming and Qing folk, popular, theatrical, banquet, and entertainment music and elevated them in Ryûkyû into formal ritual music of the royal court.

Like the kingdom's formal processional music tradition, known as ''[[rujigaku]]'' (lit. "street music"), ''uzagaku'' was based heavily upon [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] musical traditions. However, where ''rujigaku'' closely emulated the comparable formal, courtly, ritual processions of the Ming and Qing courts, and where Korean ''[[aak]]'', Japanese ''[[gagaku]]'', and Vietnamese ''nha nhac'' court music traditions similarly borrowed from the ancient, highly ritualized ''[[yayue|yǎyuè]]'' music of [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] and [[Song dynasty]] court ceremonies (based in turn on traditions said to stretch back to the [[Zhou dynasty]]), ''uzagaku'' instead took Ming and Qing folk, popular, theatrical, banquet, and entertainment music and elevated them in Ryûkyû into formal ritual music of the royal court.<ref name=kaneshiro>Kaneshiro Atsumi 金城厚, “Ryūkyū no gaikō girei ni okeru gakki ensō no imi” 「琉球の外交儀礼における楽器演奏の意味」, ''Musa'' ムーサ 14 (2013), 58-59.</ref><ref>Chia-Ying Yeh, "The Revival and Restoration of Ryukyuan Court Music, Uzagaku: Classification and Performance Techniques, Language Usage, and Transmission," PhD thesis, University of Sheffield (2018), 14-21.</ref>

Employing an array of Chinese musical instruments such as ''[[pipa]]'', ''[[erhu]]'', and Chinese types of flutes, dulcimers, zithers, drums, gongs, and chimes; Chinese language lyrics; and [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing dynasty]] melodies, it is not to be confused with the Ryukyuan ''[[sanshin|uta sanshin]]'' tradition, which features [[Ryukyuan languages|Ryukyuan language]] lyrics; and distinctively Ryukyuan tuning, scales, and melodies. The ''uzagaku'' tradition died out following the [[1879]] [[Ryukyu Shobun|abolition and annexation of the Ryûkyû Kingdom]], leading to the ''uta sanshin'' tradition becoming the core of what is today considered "classical Okinawan music" or "Ryukyuan classical music" (古典音楽, ''koten ongaku''). However, while ''uta sanshin'' songs were certainly performed within the royal court and related contexts, they were most likely performed only for banquets, entertainments, and other somewhat less ritualized contexts; historical records strongly suggest that at court ceremonies conducted as part of official ritual court business, such as formal audiences granted by the king to his officials, it was ''uzagaku'' and not ''uta sanshin'' music that was performed as part of the ceremonies themselves.

Employing an array of Chinese musical instruments such as ''[[pipa]]'', ''[[erhu]]'', and Chinese types of flutes, dulcimers, zithers, drums, gongs, and chimes; Chinese language lyrics; and [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing dynasty]] melodies, it is not to be confused with the Ryukyuan ''[[sanshin|uta sanshin]]'' tradition, which features [[Ryukyuan languages|Ryukyuan language]] lyrics; and distinctively Ryukyuan tuning, scales, and melodies. The ''uzagaku'' tradition died out following the [[1879]] [[Ryukyu Shobun|abolition and annexation of the Ryûkyû Kingdom]], leading to the ''uta sanshin'' tradition becoming the core of what is today considered "classical Okinawan music" or "Ryukyuan classical music" (古典音楽, ''koten ongaku''). However, while ''uta sanshin'' songs were certainly performed within the royal court and related contexts, they were most likely performed only for banquets, entertainments, and other somewhat less ritualized contexts; historical records strongly suggest that at court ceremonies conducted as part of official ritual court business, such as formal audiences granted by the king to his officials, it was ''uzagaku'' and not ''uta sanshin'' music that was performed as part of the ceremonies themselves.

Whereas ceremonial audiences and most other formal political ceremonies conducted by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] involved no music at all, the [[Confucian classics]] state that music and ritual are inseparable, and accordingly music played an essential part in formal court ceremonies in every Chinese dynasty. As in [[Beijing]] and [[Seoul]], formal court ceremonies at [[Shuri]] such as those involving the king's obeisances to Heaven on New Year's, the scholar-officials' obeisances to the king, and/or the welcoming of Chinese or Japanese envoys, involved ''uzagaku'' music being played almost throughout the ceremony, halting whenever a figure was to speak or conduct another important action, and then starting up again afterwards.<ref>Kaneshiro Atsumi 金城厚, “Ryūkyū no gaikō girei ni okeru gakki ensō no imi” 「琉球の外交儀礼における楽器演奏の意味」, ''Musa'' ムーサ 14 (2013), 58-59.</ref> After the end of such ceremonies, banquets and entertainments were often held, depending on the occasion, in one of the palace's secondary halls, accompanied by ''uta sanshin'' music, dances in the tradition today known simply as "[[Ryukyuan dance]]" (''Ryûkyû buyô''), and performances of ''[[kumi udui]]'' or other theatre forms.

Whereas ceremonial audiences and most other formal political ceremonies conducted by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] involved no music at all, the [[Confucian classics]] state that music and ritual are inseparable, and accordingly music played an essential part in formal court ceremonies in every Chinese dynasty. As in [[Beijing]] and [[Seoul]], formal court ceremonies at [[Shuri]] such as those involving the king's obeisances to Heaven on New Year's, the scholar-officials' obeisances to the king, and/or the welcoming of Chinese or Japanese envoys, involved ''uzagaku'' music being played almost throughout the ceremony, halting whenever a figure was to speak or conduct another important action, and then starting up again afterwards.<ref name=kaneshiro/> After the end of such ceremonies, banquets and entertainments were often held, depending on the occasion, in one of the palace's secondary halls, accompanied by ''uta sanshin'' music, dances in the tradition today known simply as "[[Ryukyuan dance]]" (''Ryûkyû buyô''), and performances of ''[[kumi udui]]'' or other theatre forms.<ref name=kaneshiro/>

 

''Uzagaku'' was primarily an oral tradition, passed on from masters to students through direct in-person instruction without the use of any written notation. The only written records of ''uzagaku'' music - that is, the melodies and not just the lyrics - come from a [[1913]] interview of [[Kokuba Koken|Kokuba Kôken]], at that time one of the last surviving court musicians from the time of the kingdom, conducted by scholar [[Yamauchi Seihin]].<ref>Kina Moriaki and Okazaki Ikuko, ''Okinawa to Chûgoku geinô'', Naha: Hirugi-sha (1984), 52.</ref>

''Uzagaku'' was primarily an oral tradition, passed on from masters to students through direct in-person instruction without the use of any written notation. The only written records of ''uzagaku'' music - that is, the melodies and not just the lyrics - come from a [[1913]] interview of [[Kokuba Koken|Kokuba Kôken]], at that time one of the last surviving court musicians from the time of the kingdom, conducted by scholar [[Yamauchi Seihin]].<ref>Kina Moriaki and Okazaki Ikuko, ''Okinawa to Chûgoku geinô'', Naha: Hirugi-sha (1984), 52.</ref>

==References==

==References==

[[Category:Ryukyu]]

[[Category:Ryukyu]]

[[Category:Poetry and Theater]]

[[Category:Poetry and Theater]]